When I came to Canada from Japan in at the age I was on my own and knew very little English. Being of the Buddhist faith helped me face this life change and any of the obstacles I encountered with a sense of certainty. I had a deep trust that I had to make this move. There was no turning back.

I ended up in Toronto working as a Japanese Tour Guide thankful that the language barrier wasn’t the problem it could have been with work had I been forced to settle for something else.

It was through this job and the many stops at the Niagara Falls hotels to drop off tourists that I met my Canadian born husband. Being both a student and teacher of Jujitsu he had already been familiar with my culture and we understood each other despite my limited English language skills.

While we were still dating I had an opportunity to become an Esthetician and work at a Salon in downtown Toronto. We continued to commute, both having very busy schedules.

Then he joined me after securing a job and we moved into an apartment that could accommodate us both very close to a subway stop making it easier for us both to get downtown to our jobs.

We soon became engaged and were married in a beautiful ceremony in which each of our spiritual beliefs was represented changing from our traditional white wedding gown and black tuxedo to our traditional Japanese Guy.

My parents came to be part of the ceremony leaving my brother home to mind the business. As fun as it was having them here with me, I have to admit it was exhausting being an interpreter as well as a bride-to-be.

We settled in to our new life as husband and wife after our honeymoon and have been fortunate enough to travel with benefits available from one or both of our jobs.

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It wasn’t long after we were married that the major Tsunami hit my home country causing damage to many homes and businesses. While many lost their loved ones at that time my family was safe where they were.

Then one day when I was (coming home?) from work I witnessed a man jump in front of a subway train. It felt surreal, almost dreamlike at the time.

Recently we got a call from my Mother telling us that my Father had been taken to the hospital. He hadn’t taken care of a scratch on his foot until it had swollen so big and gotten too painful to walk on. Being diabetic he had developed gangrene and if the antibiotics didn’t work it had spread through his system to the degree that he was assured of losing his leg up to the knee and possible his life if they couldn’t get it under control.

He was in the hospital for more than a month before they were able to do his surgery and through some miracle he ended up only losing two toes instead of what was expected. Throughout this whole ordeal my father remained positive and ready to face whatever was coming his way. We, his family, want him to be more cautious in the future with both his diet and taking care of any cuts right away. We are so grateful he is alive and still with us.

Having my belief system has helped me through trying times like these. It brings me the calmness and peacefulness that allows me to trust I will be able to handle whatever life brings.